Pick Your Poison
by LostInTheDreams
Summary: Pain, fear, terror. Kaito can't face them. He needs someone to suffer with him and he's willing to drag anyone down alongside him. Mental trauma pushes Kaito over the edge and he turns on his friends to ease the hurting. Maybe he just wants to be saved.
1. Introduction

I have no idea where this came from...  
Sorry.  
I am _supposed _to be writing my other stories but I couldn't seem to stop.

Even though this is a one shot, I separated it into three parts. The Intro and Afterward are short. Don't worry, they're all being posted  
as once.  
There WILL (maybe) BE CHARACTER OOCness because, well, I don't really know how to make Kaito a bad guy. I've never done it before.  
This story revolves around HAKUBA and KAITO a lot, but HATTORI is a close second, also playing a bigger part than Hakuba, though it is  
shorter, which is why I made him the main character in the summery.

WARNING, character death. If you don't like it, this story (though only one person dies) is not for you.

Thank you :)

* * *

_**Introduction**_

Kaito smiled to himself, tearing up the leaves so that they were in small enough pieces to be swallowed easily. Taking the plants seed, he tore it open, releasing it to let the juices mingle before putting the whole seeds into one of the water bottles he held. Still grinning, Kaito shook the bottle, waiting to see what the results of his little experiment would be.

* * *

The morning news papers were the talk of the town. _"Kaitou Kid: Captured Last Week in Secrecy has Escaped! Really a High School Student!"_

Aoko turned away from her classmates, already knowing full well that it was Kaito. Keiko tried to ask her about it but she turned away from her only other lifelong friend. She was having a hard enough time coming to grips with Kaito having been the thief that ruined her life _before_ he escaped. Now she couldn't even _think_of forgiving him. If it weren't for the fact that the only reason that Kaito had been discovered was because he'd lost his hat when saving someone from falling off a building, both him and the officer hanging hundreds of feet up before they were rescued, Aoko didn't know if she would ever be able to accept it.

A few days ago her father had told her that they were trying to push for the hardest sentence. Kaito may have been a minor but it was still more than ten years for each felony theft charge, putting his release date long after a human lifespan. Kaito hadn't taken it well. He may have been smiling when Nakamori told him, sitting with the boy and seeming to care more about his fate than most of the legal administrators who had been to see him had, but it wasn't hard for the Inspector to notice the boy's pain.

Neither he nor his daughter expected the magician to escape. They were still in the dark as to how he had done it. Though it wasn't publicized, Kaito had been held in a high security prison in an isolated cell. Escaping wasn't supposed to be possible.

Kaito's picture was all over the news for the next few days. There was literal manhunt going on, a few of Kid's die hard supporters proclaiming that Kaito could come live with them. Aoko was getting sick of it all. If Kaito didn't want to be found, he wouldn't.

Then the heist notice came the week after that, personally inviting several teenage detectives, only one whose name Aoko could recognize. It was simply signed _K.K._instead of Kaitou Kid. Hakuba smiled when he heard about it, having had skipped class the week before to help the police search for Kaito. For as long as the detective had been saying that he was the Kid, only now did the police take his talents into consideration.

"Seems like fun." Hakuba was sitting at his desk and handed the newspaper back to one of the many new fans he suddenly developed in the class. The other half of the girls avoided him, Kid fans to the end, even if he was their classmate. Having known Kaito made them even more die-hard fanatics. In the split, only Aoko and Keiko had kept their opinions on the matter to themselves.

"It does _not_ sound like fun! This isn't a game! What's that idiot planning?"

"I have no idea, that's what makes it interesting. I'm sure Kuroba-kun will have something special set up. With as many police that will be in attendance, he won't be getting away this time."

"I guess so."

Hakuba raised a friendly glance. "You don't want to see him back in jail, do you?"

Aoko blushed, words getting caught in her throat. She'd been wondering for some time if those were her real feelings or not. Even now she didn't have an answer. "I don't know."

"Personally I don't want to see it either. I would have preferred Kuroba-kun to have gotten on with his life elsewhere and stopped this foolishness. Unfortunate that he chose to return."

Aoko's look was beyond skeptical. Hakuba laughed lightly at her expression. It wasn't unfriendly. "I may not have liked him associating with Kami knows who and doing whatever he pleased with no regards, but I've never thought he committed crimes bad enough to look him up for the rest of his life. If it weren't for the personal invitation, I would not be going."

Aoko kept her words quiet so the rest of the class couldn't hear her. Hakuba had taken Kaito's seat next to her so it was easy enough to keep their conversation hidden. "If it's between you and him, will you let him go?"

Hakuba looked down, eyes closing as he thought about the question. Aoko had pictured a steadfast reply of 'no'. Simply taking the time to think about it drew Aoko closer to him.

"I don't know. If I was the only one there and I _could_ let him get away, I might. The chances of that are astronomically low, considering how many people will be there. Quite honestly I cannot answer your question in good conscience. This is not about what I want, it's about what I have to do."

"I understand." Aoko went back to her seat, feeling as if she was betraying her father and the officers she'd grown up with by asking Hakuba to spare Kaito. It hurt.

Hakuba's hand found hers under the desk and she looked up. "Don't worry Aoko-kun, I know how much you care about him. I won't let anything happen tomorrow night."

Aoko squeezed his hand in return, feeling as if she were betraying Kaito now. Hakuba took it away and faced the front of the class, not intending it as anything more than a reassurance.

_Why should Aoko feel like she had to be loyal to that idiot anyway?_ He as good as ruined both their lives. Then she thought some more. How many betrayals was she going to have to suffer through before this was over?

* * *

...

There may be some spelling mistakes. I've gone over it a few times but that's by myself. If you notice anything bad please send me a message (not a review, though I like those ;) )  
Thanks!


	2. Pick Your Poison

_**Disclaimer: **_DO NOT POISON ANYONE! I AM NOT TO BE HELD RESPONSIBLE IF YOU DO. (*'kay)

_Authors note:_There have been several different symptoms for this plant. The thing is, there's not a lot of information out there and different sites tell me  
different things. As for the length of time it takes for the poison to take affect, that is mostly guesswork because I have been unable to find it.

Thanks for Reading! Please review!

* * *

Hakuba leaned against the wall, uncomfortable with Hattori so close to him.

"Come on, loosen up. It's not like I came here 'cause I wanted to be."

Hakuba looked away, letting his hands fall across his chest. He could understand why he'd been invited to the heist, and to an extent why Conan had been invited as well, but Hattori rubbed him the wrong way. The two, Kid and the Osakan, had barely come into contact with one another. It didn't make sense for him to be there.

"Whatever." Hattori knelt down on one knee to discuss something with Conan. The child brushed him off, coming to stand near Hakuba's feet and stare up at him solemnly.

"It's nothing new but I heard that Kid had been your classmate."

Hakuba stiffened, turning his eyes downward but keeping his head facing forward. "Yes he was."

Conan smiled. "He must have been a good person then. Were you two friends?"

_Ah, the little boy was digging for information._Hakuba could really care less what conclusions the child came to. "He was an acquaintance and on most days a nuisance. I never spent much of my time with him."

Conan's smile changed subtly, catching onto Hakuba's evasion of the question he didn't answer.

"I wonder why he invited Hattori-kun" Hakuba broke in, trying to avoid any questions that hit too close to his heart. He also wanted to see if Conan may have known why the Osakan had been invited.

"I don't know." Conan lowered his head, both of them turning to look at Hattori dangerously. The Osakan bristled under their eyes.

"Why? What's the matter with me? I didn't do anythin'!"

"Exactly." Hakuba took in his jean jacket, the sleeves rolled up in the warmer weather, and the dark black shirt underneath it. "You are Hattori-kun, right?"

Hattori frowned at him, catching on and looking like he wanted to growl. "'Course I am! Ya think they woulda let me in if they didn't check?"

"Calm down Hattori."

Conan's voice drew Hakuba's eyes back to the child. The boy looked up at him with a smile. "Don't worry! That's really Heiji-neechan."

Hattori snorted and looked away. "Buncha suspicious idiots."

Conan looked around nervously and it put Hakuba on edge, glancing at shadows and turning to face footsteps of officers as they passed.

"It's weird isn't it? The whole world knows who he is now and he's still stealing?"

Hakuba nodded, the same nagging thought bothering him. "There must be a reason."

"He's a thief." Hattori looked back at them, standing a few feet off to the side to show his displeasure at being talked down to. "What do you mean, ya don't know what he's doin' it? What else's he supposed ta do?"

"Even if he is a thief, it would be stupid to continue this. He doesn't even keep the gems."

"I've been trying to figure him out for the better part of six months. If you understand him, by all means explain it to me."

Conan stopped, looking around at a frantic pace.

"What's the matter?" Hattori asked, standing up.

"The guards are gone."

Hakuba looked around, the silence stretching now that they weren't speaking.

"Damn it." Conan swore under his breath. "Why didn't I notice?"

"Because it would ruin the fun."

Everyone turned to face the figure in front of case. The white outfit was gone, replaced with a dark blue suede jacket with an upturned collar. Matching pants and a black shirt finished the attire, blending him into the night sky if he were outside. The thief kept a cap on his head, black and brandishing a lightening symbol embroidered in white.

"Kuroba-kun, what did you do with everyone else?"

Kaito grinned under the cap, his eyes hidden. "I put them to sleep. Do you have a problem with that Hakuba-kun? I didn't want anyone interrupting us."

"The guards outside will notice they've lost radio contact. They'll be here any second" Conan's higher voice chimed in.

If anything Kaito grin grew wider, almost feral looking. "They won't."

The thief gracefully brought himself up to sit on the case, pulling out his card gun and shooting all of the cameras that were in the room. It left him with little more than half a deck.

Hakuba looked around. "Why did you want us alone Kuroba-kun? It seems you went through a great deal of trouble to do it."

"Oh, because I have something fun in store tonight." Kaito took the hat between his thumb and pointer finger, showing how possessed his eyes looked.

"What's the matter with you?" Hakuba backed up into the wall, suddenly afraid of the magician. Kaito laughter echoed across the empty room like the disparity that came to those who had lost too much.

"What happened to me? What do you think happened to me? Do you think the police were the only ones who knew I'd been arrested? Did anyone even notice that my mom was gone?" Kaito lowered his head, eyes overshadowed so all the detectives could see were his teeth. "It doesn't really matter though. It's not like she didn't see it coming."

"What do you mean? What happened to your mother?" Conan asked this time, Hakuba's words unable to get passed his lips.

"She died detective." Kaito turned to Hakuba. "If Aoko wasn't Nakamori's daughter and if you weren't so famous yourself Hakuba-kun, you'd both be dead as well. Sad really. It's not like I have ties to anyone."

"Someone killed her?" Hattori's voice was the quietest, making the Osakan filched when Kaito laughed again, louder voice shattering his softer one.

"No, I told you she died, not that she was murdered. She killed herself, knowing that they were using her against me. Not that I could have prevented anything in jail. Thanks to them though, I was able to get out."

"Who's _them_? Kuroba-kun what did they ask you to-"

Kaito waved a hand, showing off blood unintentionally as he tried to silence them. The thief didn't realize he'd done it. Hakuba looked at the palm after it was placed on the case, leaving bloody fingerprints. He had to wonder whose blood it was.

"It doesn't matter what they asked. I don't listen to anyone. You should know that. Snake learned it the hard way."

"Snake?"

Conan tried hard not to shake under Kaito's eyes. The thief smiled, shrugging his shoulders.

"Like I said, it doesn't matter. The world had no more room for trash."

"Are you talkin' about a person?" Hattori's voice was louder now, echoing; piercing enough for Hakuba to want to cover his ears. "Did ya kill someone?"

"Why yes, I did." Kaito didn't even twitch when he said the words. Hakuba felt that everything he knew about the magician, the thief, had changed. He wasn't facing Kid at the moment, or even Kaito. Whoever stood in front of him now had just confessed to being a murderer. "I'm sure the world will be a brighter place now that he's gone, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it."

Hakuba shuddered, wanting to leave the room. The way Kaito was smiling and his earlier words left him to believe that there was no exit for him to take if he went to look for one.

"What do you want now then?" Conan's eyes were hard, if not slightly empathic. "You had to have invited us here for a reason."

"Yes I did." Kaito grabbed a backpack out of thin air, weighing heavily in his hands. "No one will find Snake's body. Even if they do, they won't know it was me and, because of who he works for, they won't even know who he is. That's hardly fair."

"What do ya mean?" Hattori had moved forward, Hakuba remained glued to the wall and Conan was close to him, the child looking like he wanted to drag Hattori backwards.

"I mean, I just killed someone. If they want to sentence me, they might as well add murder onto my charges. Since I can't be accounted for Snake's, I'll just have to kill one of you."

Hakuba shuddered. "You're not serious Kuroba-kun."

"But I am." Dark blue eyes glittered at them from under the cap, shadows creeping around his face. "You three-" Kaito closed his eyes. "Especially you three have been doing exactly what I was. Why then do I have to suffer for it?" Kaito screamed at them. His smile was gone, eyes wild with anger and fright.

"Kuroba-kun I don't-"

"Don't know what I'm talking about?" Kaito's grin was back, losing all composure and looking more like a dog bearing its teeth. "I don't expect you to. I don't expect anyone to." Kaito let his head fall to the side, body shaking with unheard laughter. "I'm aware of how alone in this I am."

"Stop this." Conan's voice broke the atmosphere, cutting through to the thief in a way that Hakuba knew his own voice couldn't. "I don't know who you've killed, but it sounds like you had a reason. Don't do anything you'll regret."

"It's too late for that." Kaito produced a switch out of nowhere. "I hold the lives of the people you care about most in my hand. If you don't listen to what I say, I promise they won't live to breath tomorrow."

"What?" Hattori shouted from across the room. "What did ya do?"

"It was easier than I thought. Ran-kun believed I was Kudo-kun." Kaito aimed his smile at Hattori and Conan, Hakuba unsure what he was getting at. "Kazuha-kun was a little harder, seeing through my disguise faster than I thought she would. I have to admit to not taking as much care in them as I usually do." Kaito rested his head listlessly on his hand. "Aoko was the easiest. The idiot came right up to me."

"Of course she did. Kuroba-kun, that girl cares more about you that anything else. What did you do to her?"

"I didn't do anything yet. All three are sleeping, unconscious for at least the next three hours. I left them in a locked room that they can't get out of. This is me talking so you realize that if I say they can't get out, they can't get out. I have explosives set up to go off when I hit this button. If you three don't do as I say, I can't promise their safety."

"You'd better let Kazuha go!" Hattori snarled. Kaito laughed. The similarity between such dissimilar sounds was unnerving.

"Do what I say and they'll be fine."

"Kuroba-kun, why did you take Aoko-kun?" Hakuba kept his head low, voice no more than a whisper that carried around the room in the silence.

"Because I couldn't think of anyone else that you cared about and going after your father was too much of a hassle."

"Kuroba-kun, you could have taken anyone in class and I'd still be trying to save then. Aoko-kun is no closer to me that Momoko-kun or Koizumi-kun. The only one she's close to is you."

Kaito grinned, Hakuba's words seeming to have no effect. "I could care less. As long as you listen to me she won't die. You're right, I could have picked anyone. Go against me and I have no trouble killing them." It wasn't an idol threat. "It's either one of you who dies, or all of them. That means if even one of you tries anything, I won't hesitate."

"Only one of us?" Conan looked up, having finished speaking into his shirt. The smile Kaito gave him showed he hadn't missed the action.

"Yes, I only need to kill one of you. I figured it would be just as bad to watch someone die as it is to die yourself." Kaito threw the bag towards them. "There are water bottles in there. Pick one. I'm a thief after all and I like to gamble. There are four. Whichever you don't pick, give to me. It's like my own version of Russian Roulette."

"And if we don't, you'll kill 'em?" Hattori picked up the bag first, being closest to the thief. The look Kaito gave him was all the answer he needed. Hattori reached his hand in and took the first water bottle without looking at it and threw the bag back to the other two.

"Kuroba-kun do you really want to kill one of us?" Hakuba took out the other three, seeing small seeds floating at the bottom.

"Yes I do. The world thinks of me as a bad guy so I'll be a bad guy."

"Ya are a bad guy!"

Hakuba looked away, Conan following suit. Hattori saw the motion, frowning. The Osakan turned on them, coming over and forcefully taking one of the bottles and tossing it to Kaito. The thief caught it with skilled hands.

"Fine then, let's get this over with. I don't think talkin' to ya will make you change yer mind."

"It won't." Kaito opened the bottle, swallowing the liquid without checking it. "For your information, there's no way to tell them apart. Even I can't. Just pick one."

"And if you have the poison one?" Conan took the bottle from Hakuba's left hand. Kaito grinned.

"I'll die then. It's as simple as that. Take more than five minutes to finish the bottle and I'll hit the button."

"Kuroba-kun, do you want to know what Aoko-kun asked me the other day?" Hakuba held the bottle tightly in his hands, wishing he could figure a way out of this. Kaito already had half of his gone. "She told me that, if I could, I should let you escape. I couldn't say no to her. You can't tell me that no one can understand you. Kuroba-kun, that girl loves you. Don't do this."

It wasn't as crazed as it had been, but Kaito's smile was to the point that Hakuba was sure it wasn't even a conscious thing anymore. "It doesn't matter."

"What do you mean _it doesn't matter?_ Isn't this whole thing because of what you feel people have done to you? I didn't, still don't, want to see you in jail. Let them go. Let us go."

"Three minutes detective."

Hattori opened his first, drinking a good one forth of it before having to stop for air. He turned back to the other two. "The guy's not kiddin'. Hurry up, I don't want-" Hattori looked away. Conan nodded, opening his and drink it. _He didn't want any of the girls to die. _Kaito was using a dirty trick to make them follow his orders. It was going to cost one of them their life.

"Tantei-kun, you only need to drink half of yours. Be my guest if you want to finish it, but half will be enough to kill you if you're unlucky enough to have been the recipient." Conan glared at him, drinking.

Hakuba held his in his hand, unsure of what to do. He certainly didn't want to be the last one and find out the hard way that he had the one with the poison. It would only make it harder for him to face. One life against three was no choice. Hakuba opened his and kept drinking, not stopping until it was all gone. The bitter taste didn't leave his mouth.

Conan and Hattori finished shortly after and Kaito held up his empty bottle, twirling it around his fingers. "We only need to wait ten minutes, if that. I made sure that there was enough to kill anyone. A teenage boy or a child should be easy."

"Now that you've gotten what you wanted, let them go." Conan threw the bottle down, allowing it to skid across the room before resting in the shadows. Kaito turned the switch over, showing off another button, this one blue where the first had been red. "This unlocks the door. I promise that no harm as come to them." Kaito, after hitting the button, dismantled the remote so it couldn't be used again.

"What kinda guarantee is that?" Hattori yelled.

"The best that I can give. I don't want to give them time to tell the police officers that I kidnapped them. It may make them want to try harder getting in and I've already timed everything perfectly. I can't allow any changes."

"Bastard."

Hattori started coughing after his yell, Conan and Hakuba turning to him while Kaito looked on with an evaluating eye.

"You weren't who I thought was going to get it Hattori-kun. I thought it would be one of the other two."

"Hey, I just coughed. It's not like I'm dyin'."

"Not yet." Kaito smiled, watching them from his glass perch like a god. "But you just drank water and I'm willing to bet your throat's dry. Give me another reason besides poison in which that would happen."

"Hattori." Conan's voice was serious, watching as the Osakan's breathing started to speed up. It wasn't hard to see when the teen begin to shake.

"I'm fine. It's nothin'." Hattori swallowed loudly, looking like he was having difficulty with it.

"Goodbye Hattori-kun." Kaito smirked, drawing laughter from the situation. Hattori looked like he wanted to beat the other teen but found himself on his knees, clutching his stomach.

"Hattori!"

Conan ran over to him, placing a hand on the Osakan's back as the boy trembled, looking like he was going to fall over at any second. Though Hakuba couldn't see it, Conan shot Kaito a glare that could have melted steal. The thief only sat there, amused by attention.

"Tantei-kun. I don't want to give you false hope. The poison I used was from the Mystery Plant. Fitting. It's more conman name is Daphne. What a beautiful flower it is too. Smells nice. There isn't any cure and with the amount he ingested, it won't be more than a half-hour, an hour tops, before he dies. Even with medical treatment, the poison will already be killing him."

"Why?" Conan yelled, refusing to move from the teen's side. "I still don't understand! You wanted to kill one of us just because of what the news said?"

"I told you, it wasn't fair. Life isn't fair and, for the first time, I'm not being fair. I like being in control." Kaito's sparkling Forget-me-Not eyes held none of their usually beauty. They were dark and gleeful now. "I'm doing this simply because I want to."

"Kudo-" Hakuba almost couldn't hear the Osakan speak. It sounded like Hattori's throat was closing up. He stopped to try and massage his neck so he could speak better. "Don't listen to him. He's just a killer. I bet he loves this."

"No." Hakuba stared at Kaito, knowing full well how much the magician treasured life. "Why _are_ you doing this? This isn't like you at all!"

"I've given up." The thief's expression was honest. "I don't care what happens anymore. I wanted someone to suffer with me. I don't really care which of you it is."

"You bastard-" Hattori tried to get up. He made it a few steps before collapsing, coughing up mucus and what looked like blood. The Osakan rolled in on himself, Conan coming to stand behind him and give Hattori whatever comfort he could. Kaito laughed again, making Hakuba fist his hands. He'd had enough.

"Kuroba-kun."

Kaito stayed where he was while Hakuba strode over to him, ignoring his fear of the other. "You are not the puppet master here! You can't play with people's lives like it's a game!" Hakuba grabbed securely onto the front of the navy coat.

"It _is_ a game. And I've never had so much fun. I should have been doing things this way from the start."

Hakuba dragged the thief off of the glass case, Kaito not have even looked at them gem. Shoving him against it was hard because it was lower than the top of Kaito's back, so they ended up sliding to the ground. "You're lying! What the hell happened to you to make you like this?"

"Reality." Kaito grinned. Hakuba couldn't take it anymore. He punched the thief in the face, expecting some type of retaliation. Kaito kept on smiling.

"Damn you!" He threw Kaito to the ground. "I'm not letting you get away!"

He could feel Kaito laughing underneath his fingers. "I don't plan on leaving. I want the world to know just how dangerous I am. If I get bored, I'll escape again."

"Hakuba-kun!" Conan's anxious voice reached him. Hakuba looked up, seeing the boy trembling.

"Help. I don't know what to do."

"You'd better stay here!" Hakuba placed a pair of handcuffs on the thief, knowing that Kaito could get out of them if he wanted to. After the metal was placed around his wrists, he shrugged, laid out on his stomach in the position that Hakuba had forced him into so that the detective could see his hands.

Hakuba went over to Conan, seeing Hattori still in the fetal position and gasping for breath as if the air were choking him. He put a pale hand to Hattori's dark face and felt the beads of sweat. Hakuba took out a handkerchief and wiped them away.

"Go look for a way out. I know what Kuroba-kun said but there's no harm in trying to get him medical attention. Alert someone and tell them where we are. I'll see what I can do to help."

Conan nodded, looking torn between staying with the Osakan as he was dying and getting him the help he needed.

"Go. I'll take care of him."

Conan nodded once more, taking off at a speed that would have put track runners to shame. Hakuba looked back down at Hattori, watching the other boy draw in stifled breathes.

"Hang on."

Hattori started laughing, blood and other fluids dripping out of his mouth and nose. "Fat chance." The words were whispered, only distinguishable in the absence of any outside noise. "Tell the brat I'm sorry- I couldn't be much help."

"I'm the one who's sorry. I didn't even think that Kuroba-kun would do something like this." Hakuba continued to wipe away the perspiration, letting the cloth brush into Hattori's hair as the Osakan gritted his teeth and curled further in on himself. After a few minutes Hattori started to relax, making Hakuba fear that he was going to die.

"Don't worry Tantei-san, it was just a spasm. One or two more and he should die."

"Shut up!"

Kaito smiled, letting the detective fruitlessly try to attend to the Osakan.

Hattori raised himself on shaky arms, watching Kaito with dazed eyes. He got up on his hands and knees and moved over towards him.

"Hattori-kun you shouldn't-"

"I'm gonna die. Let me do what I want." Hoarse, quiet, and almost indistinguishable, the Osakan's words told him how much he was hurting. Hakuba retracted his outreached hand.

Looking back at the thief, Hattori made his way over to him until he was able to punch him in the face like Hakuba had. The only difference was that Kaito was now resting against the floor so the punch had the full impact. Kaito tried to draw back and smile like he had before but Hattori had hurt him worse than Hakuba had.

"I don't know what the hell is wrong with ya. I've talked to Kudo 'bout ya before." Hattori coughed, covering his mouth so it wouldn't get on the thief. It was either a strange act of kindness or an old habit. "There's somethin' wrong with yer head. Get help."

Hattori backed off, falling onto his butt and breathing hard. Hakuba went over to them.

The thief ignored the words like he had everyone else's. The only difference was that he turned his head to the side so that he couldn't be hit again.

Hattori's face and trembling body demanded Hakuba's full attention. The Osakan's chest was moving but he wasn't able to draw in any breath and random seizures shot through his body.

"Hattori-kun!"

"Hattori!" Conan's excited voice made Hakuba turn, the small boy running up to them completely out of breath and shaking. "I got out. Help will be here in a few minutes. They need to clear a path."

Conan moved in front of Hattori, the Osakan doing his best to make it seem like he was alright. The blood running down the side of his face wasn't helping.

"Hattori hold on. They'll be here soon."

"'Kay." Hattori's gaze was still clouded and he had a confused look. "Say Kudo, when'd ya go so young?"

"Huh?" Conan turned to him, responding to a different name than his own. "What do you mean?"

"Were you always that tiny?" Hattori shut up, drawing back in on himself. "Never mind- wasn't- important."

Hattori laid down, Hakuba helping him lean backward.

"Don't let him fall asleep!"

Kaito's sudden words made Hakuba jump. The fervor in which they were said further surprised him. Hattori blinked, coughing some more and forcing Hakuba to let him go so that he could curl up on himself.

Hakuba turned back, eyes dark. "Why the hell should I listen to you?"

"Please, I'm serious. It's a small chance but if he does get medical attention, he needs to be alive to receive it! If you let him fall asleep now he'll go into a coma and die! I'm not lying!"

"Oi, Hattori!" Conan shook him until the Osakan was back up, clearly in pain and wanting to escape from it. Conan may have bought the lie but Hakuba didn't. If the thief's previous behavior was anything to go by, he only wanted to see Hattori suffer.

"Kuroba-kun." Hakuba grabbed the back of his coat. "I told you not to play around with us!"

"I'm not!" Kaito's eyes were panicked, making Hakuba release his hold. His countenance seemed to change at the drop of a hat.

"I thought you wanted Hattori-kun dead. Why help us?"

"I didn't- I don't- I'm sorry." Kaito looked down. "I don't know why I did all of this. I could say it's because I haven't been thinking clearly. Too much has happened. I can't-"

"Stay where you are."

Kaito nodded, looking more like a panicked deer than the predator he had been. Hakuba couldn't tell if it was because a he was a good actor or if Hattori, sick and dying, was the more observant one. The large bruise forming on Kaito's cheek helped the hurt animal look.

The police arrived soon after, being pushed aside by the medical technicians when it was apparent they weren't needed. Hattori was taken out first, placed on one of their backs because they weren't able to make the hole big enough to get a stretcher in. Kaito was forced to his feet, watching the Osakan as if seeing him for the first time that night. He refused to look away until he was out of the room. Even then, Hakuba spared the thief a glance, Kaito turning away from him before the detectives followed in the wake of their white helmeted helpers.

Though they tried, Hattori died that night. There was too much poison in his blood by the time they got there. As low as the chance may have been, Hakuba was taken aback when they announced it to the hall of visitors. One girl took it hard and collapsed into tears on another girl's shoulder, someone Hakuba remembered but had no time to think about with the numbness that took over his mind at that moment.

Hakuba didn't learn until a few days later that Kaito because completely unresponsive after learning of Hattori's death. He was in the hospital last he heard, unwilling or unable to even eat on his own. Hakuba wanted to hate him. For as much as Kaito put them through, he knew the thief deserved everything he got. The only thing holding back his anger was his own memories.

Kaito had looked so scared that night. He'd heard of people being traumatized but never imaged someone like the magician would suffer from it. As carefree as he had acted, there were outside forces playing the thief like a puppet that night. While some of the blame truly did rest with Kaito, not all of it was his fault.

It took a good week for Hakuba to get his own life back together before he looked into Kaito's mother's death. Her wrists were slit jaggedly with some sort of plastic and her body had been found in a nearby forest.

There was also an unidentified body, buried in a marked grave and, besides a knife wound in his chest, in significantly better condition than Kaito's mother had been in. Hakuba used common sense to figure out that the dead man was the one who'd gotten Kaito out of jail. It was also a high possibility that he was the one who made Kaito's mother kill herself. That being said, Hakuba didn't think he'd be able to treat someone like that, even their body, with as much care.

He sighed to himself, knowing he'd have to find some way in to see Kaito. The magician may have been many things but Hakuba didn't think weak was one of them. He'd been wrong.

With his father's influence and his assurances that he wouldn't be making Kaito's condition worse, Hakuba was allowed in after a few days of effort.

Kaito was kept in a cell still. There was a hospital bed in it with and IV drip and a feeding tube. Kaito's eyes were close as if he were sleeping.

"Kuroba-kun?" Hakuba looked around the room. It was little wonder that the magician wasn't in the right frame of mind. Not only was he taken away from any stimulus, he also had lost his mother. Hakuba was sure that no one was addressing either issue.

"Kuroba-kun? Are you really sleeping?"

Kaito didn't move, looking small under the sheets.

"Fine then, stay asleep. Run away from the world like a child so you don't have to face it. I'm sure that's what Hattori wanted when he tried to knock some sense into you."

Kaito opened his eyes slowly, blurred and his pupils dilated to an extreme amount.

"You look terrible." It didn't even warrant a smile. Kaito's blank eyes looked at nothing. Doll-like. As much as Hakuba tried, he couldn't get Kaito to acknowledge him. Sympathizing didn't work and Hakuba's frustration at the magician's petrified state didn't reach him either. After a few worthless hours of this, Hakuba left. One of the doctors met him on the way out.

"So did you make any progress?"

"I'm afraid not. All he did was open his eyes."

The doctor looked surprised at how little he had accomplished. Hakuba felt ashamed.

"You got him to open his eyes?"

Hakuba coughed, choking on a breath that he hadn't fully taken in. "That's a good thing?"

"Yes! We haven't been able to get him to do anything! If he opened his eyes, that was amazing! Imagine the state his in for a moment. He feels as if he's lost everything. I'm surprised he's even breathing on his own! For you to have gotten him to move is amazing! With how still his been, I doubt he physically could have done more."

"Then that was good?" Hakuba raised an eyebrow.

"Excellent!"

"I'll be back again tomorrow then."

It was slow but Kaito started to move. His recovery was tedious, learning to blink again and Hakuba having to teach him how to eat and drink since the magician ignored the doctors completely and waited for his return each day. Though he never felt any companionship with Kaito, his rivalry didn't extend to hatred and he didn't want the magician dying when it seemed that he was the only one Kaito would react around.

As he got better, Kaito's memories came back to him. His mind was unable to process them, forcing the magician deeper into regression. If Hakuba weren't there, he would have lost them. The detective thought about letting that happen. If Kaito didn't remember what he'd done, maybe he could start over.

It had cost Hattori his life though and, even with the chance that it may lead him to suicide, Hakuba couldn't let Kaito forget what he had done.

Their conversations started getting stranger as his memories returned, either forcing him into emotional withdrawal or making the magician start crying at moments that it wasn't necessary for. This was brought on by Hakuba returning to his memories and Kaito being unsure of how to act around him.

After a few months, Kaito was back to his normal self, if not quieter and without his normal smile. It wasn't like life had been easy for him and, right now, he couldn't pretend that he was alright.

"Hakuba-kun, are you going to leave?" Kaito looked up from his sheets where he'd been playing with a Rubik's Cube. It was one of the only things the gauds had deemed safe and let Kaito keep.

"For today. I'm afraid of what will happen if I leave you alone."

"I'm not a child. You don't have to come back." Kaito straighten, looking serious. "I already took two people's lives away from them. I don't want to take yours."

"You're not." Hakuba turned back, used to the idea at this point that Kaito wasn't as strong as he looked. "It's become part of my day to come here now. Graduation is approaching though and I'd like it if I had some time to get ready. I'll see you the day after tomorrow then."

"Tell-" Kaito stopped before he let the words escape.

"I'll tell Aoko-kun that you wish her well."

"Please don't." Kaito's eyes remained on the sheets in front of him. "I'm sure she's got someone else to tell her that by now. I don't want to make her upset."

"I told you once before and I'll tell you again. I don't know why, after all you _are_ a chronic imbecile, but that girl loves you. There won't ever be anyone else."

"I wish she wouldn't."

"Kuroba-kun, you do know that they're pleading for insanity in your case. If it weren't for the friends you've made here, you would have been back in a jail cell long ago without visitors. With as many people as there are pulling for you, you'll still get about fifteen years. It's a long time, but it's not forever. Aoko-kun said she'd wait."

"What?" Kaito's head shot up to see the smile on Hakuba's face.

"She's coming with me tomorrow. I know that you haven't gotten to talk to her in a long time. I wanted her to wait until you were better."

Kaito frowned. "I've been better for over a week."

"No, you've been functional for the last week. I wanted to wait until you had your emotions under control. I think you do now."

"She wanted to see me?"

"You make that seem like it's something unheard of. Who else would waste their time on an idiot like you besides those that were around you before now? Nakamori-keibu was part of the reason your sentence was so low, along with another woman who I heard was Ran-kun's mother. In fact, I don't think you're being charged with _anything_you've done as Kid and that man's death they proved to have been self defense because of your mother. You're getting the fifteen because of Hattori-kun."

"I should be getting more. I can't believe I did something like that." Kaito put his head in his hands. "When I think back, the memories play like a movie that I wasn't a part of." He shook his head.

"There was a girl who was really upset. After talking with Conan-kun, Kami knows what he said to her, she calmed down. I wouldn't say anything less than that she despises you, but she didn't speak up at your trial if you noticed."

"Trust me, I didn't notice anything. That happened last month right? I don't even remember leaving this room."

"And it helped your case."

Kaito blew out a breath. "It wasn't like I was faking it."

"I know. It let people see how you were, even with the fact that you were able to stand and sit down right at that point."

"Don't remind me." Kaito had half his head resting in his hand, covering one of his eyes and removing the other. "I'm surprised you put up with me like that."

"I didn't have much choice."

"What do you mean?"

"Hattori-kun wanted your head back in order. I was the only one who seemed to be able to do that. Don't get me wrong, I would have done it for my own personal satisfaction as well but it sounds better when I put it that way."

Kaito laughed, the first one Hakuba had heard in a long time. It was a small chuckle but worth Hakuba making himself sound like a fool.

"So I'll come back tomorrow. You don't have to smile for her. Aoko-kun knows what you've been through."

"You don't know the half of it."

"What do you mean?" Hakuba had his hand on the door handle.

"_Both_of my parents were killed by that man." Kaito was smiling when Hakuba turned back, looking more like Kid. "But that's for another time Tantei-san. Go home. I promise there won't be any secrets between us. I don't deserve to keep them to myself anymore. Privacy is something I can easily let go of."

"Your father was-"

"Another time." The smile broke. "I'm not ready."

"Right." Hakuba turned, leaving Kaito to his own thoughts.

Hakuba didn't know that that was the last day he would see Kaito. The magician wasn't in his cell the next day and the doctors were baffled as to where he had gone to. There was no note, no nothing, only faint marks of blood where someone had grabbed onto the wall with a cut on their finger. They'd identified it as Kaito's print. Two officers from a nearby sector were also missing, not having had the authorization to have gone near Kaito's room. If the magician had escaped it was highly unlikely that he would have had to take out the guards. The signs of a struggle that Hakuba found in the room were disturbing.

With what they'd been talking about, Hakuba was sure that Kaito hadn't left. He'd been wearing socks so there shouldn't have been scuff marks on the floor that Hakuba found. Taking the sheets in his hand, Hakuba swore to himself. Someone had taken Kaito from right under his nose.

As exhausting as Hakuba thought the first search for the thief was, the second was grueling. He often went nights completely without sleep and had suspended any involvement in school. It meant he'd be repeating the year but Hakuba didn't care.

It was a shock when the magician staggered up to his door less than two weeks later, arm broken and looking like he'd just been mauled. Teeth marks adorned his skin like sick tattoos and one of the magician's eyes was closed.

"Hakuba-kun." Kaito promptly passed out, bleeding all over his front steps.

The police were called and Kaito was taken off in an ambulance. The officers repeatedly tried to get Hakuba to admit that he'd play a part in Kaito's escape. He fought them back, calling them idiots for thinking he would let the magician get in the state he was in if he'd been with him.

It was Conan-kun who was able to track down the people who had taken him. The blood trail Kaito left was easy enough to follow and the men they found were arrested after a hail of bullets left most of them dead and some injured. That was the ending of the group that claimed that Kaito had murdered their leader. It didn't take long for the shared effort of Hakuba, Conan and Eiri to have charges brought up against them for attempted murder and several other cold cases.

Besides being shaken, Kaito recovered. Hakuba let Aoko be the first to see him when he woke up this time.

"Kaito!" Aoko looked over at his injures, dog bites and knife wounds hidden under bandages. Signs of torture not prevalent under clean sheets. The magician never revealed how he had escaped. "You can't keep doing this!"

"I didn't mean to." Kaito smiled at her, taking in her appearance and voice like a man in the desert does water. "They kinda made me."

"Sure they did! The Kaito that I knew could get away from anyone!"

"The Kaito that you knew isn't here anymore."

Aoko looked at his face, the other teen not giving any ground. "I'm not the same person I was before. I changed."

"So have I. Time does that to you." Aoko threw her arms around him. "But deep down I know you're still the same Kaito that I fell in love with."

Kaito blushed at her words, letting emotion get the best of him for the first time; some part of his heart having been locked away only for the case to shatter, Kaito unaware that it had even been there until after it was gone.

"Can you love someone with blood on their hands?"

"Kaito." Aoko moved away from him so that she could look him in the eye. "If I was expecting a normal guy, I would never have fallen for you. I know what you did, and while a part of me can't forgive you, I can understand it. It's not like I'm overlooking what you've done, I'm accepting it."

Kaito swallowed hard. "You can accept me?"

"Kaito you're such an idiot!" She wrapped her hands around him again. "It's not like emotions follow logic. Do you think you're the only one who had to get themselves back together after all that?"

Kaito smiled, hugging her back even as his injuries told him not to.

"You know you're an idiot Aoko."

"Then I guess we're perfect for each other. We can forgive one another for our stupidity."

"You'll never need my forgiveness." Kaito buried his face in her hair.

"And you'll never need mine. I love you Kaito, flaws and all."

* * *

...

...

Yes, I killed Heiji. Just Hakuba and a few others left and I will have killed the whole main cast.  
I was not planning that when I started this. *DON'T BE MAD AT ME*


	3. Afterwards

_**Afterwards**_

On the day of his release, now a thirty two year old man, Kaito knew he was changed. Aoko had come to visit him over the years and he wanted her to be there when he got out.

But he told her not to come.

Having had little cash on him at the time he was arrested, one of the guards that he'd become friends with lent him some money. Kaito promised to pay him back but the man waved him off.

"Think of it as a present so you're not so institutionalized."

Kaito smiled. "Thank you."

"I'm sure you're not using it on yourself. Anyway, kid, get the hell out of here." Many of the guards had taken to calling him _kid_, not only because of who he was but because of his age at the time. The nickname stuck.

Kaito waved over his shoulder, leaving his home for the last fifteen years behind, welcoming the freedom with each tentative breath.

Stopping at a store, he bought what he needed. His hair had grown out over the past years and now reached below his shoulders. Taking his father into consideration, Kaito left a small mustache across his face. No one could recognize him, thanks to help on several fronts.

He took the walk slowly, having the directions memorized from when he had asked Hakuba to drop them off. The detective had started his own business, rivaling Kudo Shinichi who had mysteriously reappeared three years after he'd been arrested. That didn't leave Hakuba with much time to spend on the magician. Kaito was okay with that. The detective took his life into his own hands.

The gates screeched as he swung it open, feeling heavy thoughts weigh him down. They would be his penitence and burden for the rest of his life. Kaito was okay with that now. There were times before that he hated being weighed down by anything. Now that anchored him to life more thoroughly than he ever had been before.

Stark gray monuments rose like judgmental gods around him, suffocating him until Kaito reached close to the end, coming to Hattori's grave.

The tears weren't something new. Life in jail had broken most of his father's teachings. It was only good to hide behind a Poker Face when you were playing Poker. Kaito hadn't held any cards in a long time.

"Hattori-kun." Kaito ran his hand along the cement, hoping that somehow the boy would know he was there. Kaito was the reason that he wasn't standing next to him at the moment. The reason that the boy hadn't lived to be a man. "I hope you know how sorry I am. I always wanted to thank you. If you hadn't hit me that day, I'm not sure how far I would have taken things. I wouldn't be here right now. I wouldn't be the person I am." Kaito closed his eyes, letting his head rest against the stone. "Thank you."

Of course there was no reply. Kaito was alone, left to sit with his feelings as he cleaned up the grave site, not having much work to do with how frequent it seemed people came to it. He placed the flowers he had bought on it, a mixture of wild pants that suited the wild teen.

A hand on his shoulder made Kaito jump back, tripping on his feet and falling backwards into another grave, knocking the right side of his body against it.

"Who are you?" A woman with long hair, tied gently back in a low green ribbon with teal colored eyes, looked at him with curiosity. Kaito stared dazedly back, unsure of what to say. His name wasn't something people took kindly to.

In the silence the woman figured it out on her own, losing her curiosity and replacing it with neutrality. "You're Kuroba-kun, arn'tcha?"

Kaito nodded, recognizing Kazuha even as the years had changed her. He had only seen the girl once but Kaito had a perfect memory. The woman standing before him now was his own age, features well defined and makeup painting lightly across her eyes.

"Well get up off the ground. Ya look like an idiot." The woman held out her hand to him to help him up. Kaito stared numbly at her, trying to judge her future actions and not believing that her kindness was real. Kazuha sighed, letting her hand drop. "Fine then, stay in the dirt."

She bent down to light an incense stick on Hattori's grave, placing her palms together. "I heard that Heiji was tryin' ta help ya. I can't say the idiot ever made any sense ta me but if he thought ya had the right to be saved, I've got no problem lettin' ya be. That doesn't mean I want to see you all the time. You're Heiji's murderer. Sometimes I really hate you."

Kaito looked down at his knees, staying silent. Of all the people, he knew Kazuha was the one who would never forgive him. As out of his mind as he was, Kaito should have felt something was wrong. He cursed himself over and over for letting Snake and the man's mind games get to him. He had, after all, been present when his mother had killed herself. It was the only reason he knew Snake hadn't done it. The man had made him watch, his voice unable to reach her through a one way mirror. After this he was going to visit his mother's grave as well.

Kazuha finished her prayer, dusting off her skit and lowering her hand again. "Come on, I told ya ta get up. Do ya want Heiji to see ya actin' like a big baby?"

Kaito reacted on instinct to the authoritative tone, blaming it on too many years following orders.

"See? Was that so hard?"

Kaito got to his feet, letting go of her hand as quickly as he could. When he refused to meet her eyes, Kazuha walked up to him and put her face in his, taking his chin and making him face her.

"Don'tcha act like that. Heiji died tryin' ta make yer life better. Don't run away from it."

Kaito's eyes locked on hers for the first time, reflecting the distorted image of sunlight and his own dark eyes back at him. He nodded to her. "I know."

"Good." Kazuha turned and left without saying another word. Kaito felt oddly optimistic after that, fingering a ring he held in his pocket.

He ruined his life, but it wasn't over yet. As long as he was alive, and for the people who weren't anymore, he was going to live it to the fullest.

Now all he needed was a 'yes'.


End file.
